Understanding the Sabbath
Today’s Focus: The Three Positions of Rest for Man
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:23; John 3:16; John 5:24; Matthew 11:28,29
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
1 Thessalonians 5:23: And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So upon the return of the Lord, Paul is saying that we should have peace and all the members of our body be blameless and at peace. Who are the members of our being? Our spirit, soul and body (flesh). All three of these things will be in sync and at rest or Sabbath. Let’s look at each of them to see how they will be at rest.
Flesh comes at rest when it becomes immortal. This is a future condition because the current flesh is diseased by sin.
Spirit comes at rest at salvation when one is given eternal life.
Soul comes at rest through self-denial of one’s ambitions and will. This rest is an ongoing growth process.
Now we see that the flesh is the only one of the three components that have futuristic situation attached to it coming at rest but the other two are both positions that we can rest in NOW! Being led by the Spirit let me go ahead and knock this out here. Let’s look at both of these two positions, the sprit and soul in scripture coming to rest.
Matthew 11:28,29: Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Sabbath). Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Now look at this, Jesus said come unto me all you that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. This is the rest of the spirit. It is a gift from God. How? Because when you COME TO HIM, HE IMMEDIATELY THEN GIVES YOU REST. Rest where? In the spirit. Let’s prove it!
John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever BELIEVETH IN HIM should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 5:24: Verily, verily I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
So the gift of eternal life by the Spirit of God dwelling and fellowshipping with your human spirit puts you spirit in a state of Sabbath or rest. So the spirit’s rest comes from the gift of salvation from God. Now let’s look at the second.
The scripture says that we must take His yoke upon us and learn of Him and then we shall find rest for our souls. Now this brings us to an interesting point. We must learn of Jesus and as we learn of Jesus, THEN SHALL WE FIND REST FOR OUR SOULS. So the second rest, for our souls, is a rest that is discoverable. Think about what we said in the introduction. If this is the case and the second rest is a discoverable rest then that explains why so many people are under stress, strife, confusion, and disease because they have not discovered rest for their souls even though that are at rest in the spirit. Do you see this? The reason they have not found rest is a lack of relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. They have not truly learned about Him and we will discuss this extensively later in this series. But Jesus is making it very clear, if you desire rest for your soul then you must take His yoke, and what is His yoke that He is carrying for you? The Kingdom of God (Isaiah 9:6). You must put that yoke on AND THEN LEARN. THAT MEANS BECOME A DISCIPLE, A SON, A STUDENT.
In the next message we will look at the characteristics of the rest for our souls because this is the rest that “seems” to be invading many people but the only problem is, they have yet to discover it.
Peace, Love and Grace from the Father,
Calvin Calhoun, Jr.
